Unofficial Portkey Archive

Har, I love you guys. The reviews were much friendlier this time around, and the quantity has been steadily increasing, which makes me extremely pleased.

That being said, this chapter will probably end up with me getting the Flame of the Century. This time, and this time only, I'll take all flames with a grain of salt and just shrug. A LOT of people are going to be displeased with the way this turns out, but I have only one thing to say to that: I've been planning it this way for nearly half a year, and it's not getting changed now.

Oh, one other quick note. A couple people in their reviews asked me what 'Detente' means, so I'll define that for everyone right now:

Détente (day-tant): n. A relaxing or easing, as of tension between rivals.

So naturally, it seems like the perfect term to use for that scene last chapter.

And finally, I apologise for this being out a day late on Wednesday. The 5 hour and 48 minute Red Sox ALCS game kept me up far too late, and thus I ran out of energy to finish the chapter. Hope none of you mind too much.

So without further ado, I give you my weekly work.

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Chapter 21: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

"You..." Harry breathed, looking upon the creature that he held responsible for Sirius' death. Kreacher did not reply, he merely looked at Draco and scowled.

"The beauty of it all," Malfoy said, slightly amused. "Is that because of the house-elf rules, he's bound to me because of the fact that he entered into my family's service. I wonder what Granger would say if she knew that house-elf laws are going to end up saving her?"

"You can't save her," Kreacher mumbled. Harry made to advance on him but Draco held up his hand.

"You will not speak," he said, talking to the house-elf. Kreacher merely growled and crossed his arms.

"So he knows where they are?" Harry asked.

"Well..." Draco said vaguely. "He knows where my father is. Whether or not Granger and Ginny are there is something else."

"It's the best lead we have though," Harry replied. "What do you know?" he asked turning to look at Kreacher. The elf looked up at Draco for permission to speak, to which the blonde-haired boy nodded.

"Kreacher does not answer to the mudblood-loving Potter," he said looking Harry squarely in the eye.

"Why you little -"

"Quit it," Draco said warningly. "We can't harm him."

"Why not?" Harry asked, slightly disappointed.

"Because we need to hear what he has to say first," Draco answered with a sick smile. Kreacher snorted and stood there silent. "Answer Potter's question."

"Yes, I knows where they are," he replied, albeit begrudgingly.

"Where are they?" Harry asked. With a sigh the elf looked up at Draco.

"You already knows all the answers, so why must Kreacher be here?"

"Because he will understand better if it comes directly from your mouth," Malfoy replied. Kreacher huffed but turned to face Harry nonetheless.

"They is in a castle in Norway," he said, removing a tattered piece of parchment from a pocket inside of his beat-up pillowcase toga. "This is the place."

Harry took the parchment and smoothed out the wrinkles before looking down at the piece of paper.

Assemble at Borghund Keep

"Where is it?" Harry asked.

"Norway," Kreacher replied.

"You know what I mean," he said. "Where in Norway?" At this question, Kreacher looked up at Draco who was frowning.

"Yeah, about that," he said hesitantly. "We don't know where exactly it is." Harry turned his gaze from the house-elf to Draco.

"You're kidding," he said. Malfoy shook his head.

"I didn't have enough time to look in my family's library when I snuck out to get this bugger," he said, pointing his thumb at Kreacher who was playing with a loose string hanging off his pillowcase. "We're going to need to check the library here to see if we can find anything on it."

"Let's go then," Harry said putting the parchment in his pocket and setting off for the library.

"Now?" Draco asked, jogging to catch up to him, Kreacher behind him slightly.

"When else?" he asked. "In less than forty minutes I have to go back down to the dungeons to continue helping Snape brew the antidote, and I'll probably be at it for another 13 hours or so afterwards."

"You're planning on leaving the moment you have the antidote and know where they are, aren't you?" Draco asked as they arrived in the library.

"Yeah," he said softly as they took some historical books off of the shelves along with some maps and an atlas that were all as up-to-date as they could be.

"This place reminds me of her too," Draco said as they sat down at a table and began to spread the maps out.

"Huh?" asked Harry, not entirely sure of what Malfoy was talking about.

"Ginny," he answered. "This is where, well, you know."

"No," Harry replied. "I don't know. Care to elaborate?"

"This is where I fell in love with her," Draco muttered, leafing through 'Famous Fortresses of the Fourteen Hundreds'. Harry sighed.

"Just being in here reminds me of Hermione," he said, scanning one of the maps. "This is the table she always works at."

"I don't know how you put up with it," Draco said, shutting the book and picking up another from the pile. "All these years you've had to deal with rumors, worries, and people being snatched from right out from under your nose. It just amazes me how you deal with it."

"Thanks," muttered Harry, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"You really did save Ginny down in the Chamber all those years ago, didn't you?"

Harry stopped his search and looked up at Malfoy who was eyeing him carefully.

"I thought the entire school knew about that," he muttered, resuming his scanning.

"Nothing's less accurate than Hogwarts rumors," Draco said. "You know that."

"Yes, I did save her," said Harry. "I'm surprised your dad didn't tell you all the details."

"Only the part about how you lost us Dobby," he said. Kreacher gave a derisive snort from underneath the table.

"What is he still doing here?" Harry asked, pulling another map towards him.

"I er...tied him to me before we left," Draco replied with a devilish grin. Harry stopped still and turned his head towards him.

"Isn't that Dark Magic?" he asked hesitantly. Harry didn't know much about the actual spell, but the tying of one's being to another's was considered evil, and reputedly very dangerous.

"Potter, growing up in the household that I did, do you really expect me NOT to know a bit of Dark Magic?" he replied disdainfully.

"I guess not," Harry said. A few minutes passed in silence until Harry voiced the question that was nagging at his mind.

"Explain to me the whole Kreacher incident back in fifth year," he said to Malfoy.

"He can tell you better than I can," Draco replied without hesitation. When there was silence from the table, he looked underneath it and nudged the house-elf in the back of the head with his foot. "Tell him."

Kreacher huffed and came out from under the table with a look of disgust on his face.

"When the filthy son of my old mistress told me to 'Get out!' I left," he grunted.

"I know that already," Harry said. "Tell me what happened when you went to the Malfoys."

"They asked me what was important to you," he said. "And I tolds them the filth was."

"Mmm," Harry said appraisingly as he looked at the map. "Then what?"

"They tolds me that on a certain day, to make sure the filth was somewhere other than near the fireplace, and to be there when you appeared." Kreacher replied.

"Is that what Voldemort told them to do?" Harry asked. Both Malfoy and Kreacher flinched at the name.

"I knows not."

"Well what have you been up to since you left the house?" Kreacher growled at this, but with another prod from Draco's shoe, he quieted.

"Kreacher has been doing work for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," the elf said. At this, both Malfoy and Harry stopped their searching and looked down at the disgruntled creature whom had come out from underneath the table.

"You what?" whispered Harry.

"Been doing work for You-Know-Who," Kreacher repeated, a gleeful note in his voice at seeing how upset Harry was getting at this news. Malfoy, however, who was not impressed, picked him up by the back of the pillowcase and deposited him on the tabletop.

"Why haven't I heard about this?" he asked, his grey eyes flashing with anger.

"You has never asked," Kreacher replied.

"What were you doing?" Harry demanded. It was easy to tell Kreacher's frustration at the situation: being ordered by Draco to spill his guts of everything he knew was obviously maddening him.

"Looking out kinds of work," he said. "He had me come here once, to keep watch on the grounds."

"Why would he have you do that?" Draco asked.

"So the rat could get information without being seen," Kreacher said, though this time it was with more anger.

"What?" asked Harry and Malfoy at the same time, neither completely sure of what Kreacher meant.

"So the rat could get information," he repeated. "Something about a visit to the village."

Draco looked over at Harry, and was startled to see a scrunched look of concentration on his face. Something was nagging at the back of Harry's mind, as if he had all the pieces to the puzzle, yet he couldn't put them together. And then it hit him.

"Did you hear about the Hogsmeade weekend that's coming up on Saturday?"

"The rat..." he muttered under his breath.

Flipping the map open so he could see the name of the person, he saw the one thing that he hoped would never grace the pages of the Marauder's Map again.

And in his dream with Voldemort...

"Wormtail has extracted a necessary piece of information," Harry said. "Begin assembling your death eaters to capture what we need."

"The date..." Harry whispered with widening eyes at the realisation dawned upon him.

"What are you on about?" Draco asked, slightly concerned about Harry's state of mind.

"Peter Pettigrew," he said, looking over at his old nemesis. "He was in the Great Hall the day they posted the Hogsmeade announcement." Malfoy's eyes went wide at this, and Harry could've sworn he saw the hair on Kreacher's neck stand on end. "One of the dreams I had...Voldemort said that Wormtail had extracted a necessary piece of information, but that they didn't have the date yet. That must've been that there was a Hogsmeade visit soon, but they didn't know when." Kreacher growled. "He was in the Great Hall to find out when the date of the next Hogsmeade visit was!"

A derisive snort was heard from Kreacher here, and it only helped to further the idea that Harry's conclusion was correct.

"Is this true, Kreacher?" Draco asked. The house-elf looked at him with a look of pure loathing, and then nodded once. "Why that no good, low life, filthy, disease-ridden, piece of - what's with you, Potter?" Harry currently had his head in his hands and let out a great sigh.

"Sometimes," he began, "I just wish that I had had the balls to tell my parents about him when I was in the past with Hermione."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked. Harry looked up at him.

"You don't know what happened with Pettigrew and my parents?" he asked. Draco's upper lip curled up slightly at this in thought.

"Oh."

"Anyways, I have to get back to Snape," Harry said, looking at his watch. "Keep looking for something. Maybe Snape will let me have a break again in another few hours." Draco nodded.

"If I find anything?" Harry considered this for a moment.

"Wait here," he said. "There's no other way to do it without causing suspicion. Pretend you're doing work for school or something, I'll come here the moment I can." Again, Draco nodded.

"You brew that thing right now," he said as Harry turned to leave. "We can't afford any mistakes. The price is too high for that." Harry stopped and turned his head slightly.

"Trust me," he said. "I know that all too well." With that he exited the library to go back down to the dungeons.

=====

Much to the chagrin of Harry, eleven hours later Snape had not given him another break, and it was easy to see why. The side portion of the antidote required extremely precise and fast additions to the cauldron while Snape had to use his wand to stir the potion at speeds that made Harry's head spin slightly.

"You see," Snape said as Harry quickly deposited the sheep irises into the potion. "The reason that it is quicker to brew this with help, is that because when this potion is made alone, all of the ingredients must be prepared beforehand in the precise amounts and must be charmed to fly into the cauldron at the correct time. That, as you can imagine, takes a while."

"Yes, sir," Harry said, as he quickly moved to measure the last ingredient: phoenix tears. "Sir, why the tears?"

"They help to seal the wounds created inside the body," Snape said, still bent over the basin of platinum.

"Wounds inside the body?" Harry asked.

"The modifications that the Dark Lord makes to this potion cause the body's cells to break down from the inside out," he replied. "Which is why by the time the bleeding starts, it will be too late." Harry paled slightly at this as he poured a few drops of the tears into the measuring vial.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because by the time the skin of the body starts to break down, the insides have already done that," Snape said. "It is not a pleasant way to die."

"How long does it take until they can't be saved?" Harry asked.

"The external bleeding will start on the dawn of the fourth day," Snape said. Harry immediately looked to his watch and saw that, given that it was nearly midnight, they had about one full day left and the few hours afterward until the sun rose. Assuming, of course, that the potion had been given to Hermione and Ginny at night, like in his dream. "The only flaw in the potion was that it would only function during the hours that the sun was up."

"Why is that?" Harry asked. Snape paused for a minute, though his stirring did not cease.

"Because I made it that way."

An hour later all the ingredients had been added and all that was left was for Snape to continue stirring the mixture.

"What's going to happen when the potion's done?" Harry asked. He knew what he wanted to do, but wasn't entirely sure that the Hogwarts staff, much less Snape would go along with it.

"I will inform the headmaster of the situation, and take the appropriate actions from there," Snape said. This was the last thing Harry wanted to hear, as now he was going to have to steal the potion from Snape's office, and he was probably going to have about ten minutes to do it. "You may go now," the potions master said. Harry gathered his things and walked to the door, but stopped before opening it.

"Professor?" he asked.

"Yes, Potter?" Snape replied, still stirring the potion.

"Thank you." As there was no reply, Harry opened the door and made to leave, but as he closed the door behind him, he could've sworn he heard Snape say, "You're welcome.".

Figuring that Draco would've found an answer to where the Keep was by now, Harry bolted to the library, and his heart sank drastically when he found Kreacher sitting on the table next to Draco, who was still pouring through books and maps.

"You have got to be kidding me," Harry said as he reached the table. "You haven't found it yet?" Draco looked up at let out a frustrated growl.

"No," he said through gritted teeth. "I must've looked throughout everything in the library related to maps and castles and such three times, and there's nothing on a 'Borghund Keep'. And it doesn't help that Pince keeps trying to figure out what I'm up to."

"You're sure all the maps are current?" he asked.

"Of course, why on earth would I look at a map from over a millennium ago?"

"Are you lying to us?" Harry asked Kreacher, but it was Draco who answered.

"He can't lie," he said. "It's very painful for a house-elf to go against a master's orders, and we'd know if he was in pain."

"And you have no idea where it is?" Harry asked Kreacher.

The quick glance that Kreacher shot at one of the books on the shelf next to them before shaking his head probably would have gone unnoticed by almost everyone, but years of playing quidditch as a seeker had trained Harry's eyes to spot any subtle, quick movements, and he saw it. Looking at the shelf, he saw that it contained nothing but books on old wars. Suddenly, an idea hit him, and he wondered why he had been so blind.

"I'll be right back," he said, going off to search for the librarian. A minute later he found her replacing returned books on the shelves.

"Madam Pince?" he asked quietly. She turned and looked at him appraisingly over her spectacles.

"Yes?" she asked shortly.

"I was wondering, are there any old maps here?" The librarian narrowed her gaze at him and gave a snort.

"Whatever would you need an old map for?" she asked.

"Just research for Professor Binns," he said, crossing his fingers behind his back. He had to hope that Madam Pince didn't know he wasn't taking History of Magic anymore.

"Very well," she said with a sigh. "They're on aisle D5 next to the world displays."

"Thank you," said Harry turning around and sprinting towards the aforementioned aisle.

"Walk!" he heard Madam Pince screech, and he slowed his pace. Arriving at his destination, he realised that he couldn't bring all of them back to the table, considering there were over two thousand in front of him.

"Old maps?" Draco asked with a snort coming up behind him, Kreacher in his wake. "After you just asked me whether or not the maps I looked at were current? Do you know how long it will take to go through all of these?"

"Kreacher," Harry said ignoring Draco. "In what war was the Borghund Keep destroyed?" Kreacher's head snapped to attention at this question.

"Kreacher will not say," the house-elf said defiantly.

"You will answer his question," Draco said realising that this question obviously held importance. Kreacher looked as though he would rather swallow a flask of the Vulnero Draught than answer this question, but since he could not go against an order from a person he was bound to, the elf had no choice but to provide an answer.

"The Six Kings War," he muttered. Harry promptly walked over to the shelf Kreacher had glanced at and instantly found a book on the Six Kings War. Bringing it back over to the aisle where Draco was, he looked through the index until he found what he was looking for. Turning to page 143, a picture of an old castle was shown, along with a little caption of information beneath it.

"The Borghund Keep was destroyed in 624 A.D.," he said, pausing while Draco found a 7th century map of Norway in the shelves and unrolled it. "It was razed in the attack from King Hildegard in his search for the Tromhund Crypt, and since then has been nothing but a pile of ruins."

"Here," Draco said, pointing a finger at the map. Looking over, Harry saw a small picture of a castle with the word 'Borghund' written next to it in a fancy cursive style. Surrounding the castle was a forest that went for about ten miles on every side.

"Well," said Harry with a resolute tone. "Looks like we found it."

"Yeah, but the book says it's nothing but ruins," Draco said. "How can that be the place?"

"Simple," Harry replied, the Order meeting from after his first dream coming back to his mind. "Voldemort rebuilt it."

"Why there though?" Draco asked. "I mean, it is a bit out of the way."

"Well, he would want it to be, wouldn't he?" Harry replied. Though he somehow thought there was a reason more important than that.

"What now?" asked Malfoy, starting to replace all the books and maps they had taken back on the shelves.

"Well, I have to steal the potion from Snape once it's done," Harry said. "Then I leave."

"Like bloody hell you do," Draco said. "I'm going with you." Harry stopped shelving their 'research materials' and looked at him appraisingly. To be honest with himself, he knew there was no way that he could deny Draco the right to come with him. After all, if it weren't for the Slytherin, they would have no idea where Hermione and Ginny even were.

"Fine," Harry said. "You have to help me steal the potion though." As Draco nodded however, another voice came from seemingly nowhere next to Harry.

"I do believe," Krum said stepping out from under an invisibility cloak. "That I said I vould be coming vith you."

"You scared me, Professor," Harry said, his heart rate slowing down.

"Sorry, but I knew that you veren't telling me effrything before. I haff been listenting and vatching vat you have been studying the entire time."

"What's he doing here?" Draco asked, pointing at the Defense professor.

"Harry saved my life earlier this year," Krum said. "It is only fair that I should accompany him on this mission." Remembering Dumbledore's words that Viktor was more skilled than most death eaters, Harry wasn't about to turn his offer of help away.

"Thank you," he said. "But right now we need to figure out how to steal the antidote from Snape's office."

"That vill not be a problem," Krum said. "Vhen vill ve be stealing it?" Harry checked his watch.

"It'll be done in about twenty minutes," he said. "Then Snape will leave his office to talk to Dumbledore. We have to steal it then." Draco and Krum nodded at this.

"Ve should haff all of our things first," the professor said. "After ve steal the potion, it von't take long for Severus to figure out vhat has happened. We need to leave the moment we steal it."

"Agreed," Harry said. "Let's all get what we need and meet back here in ten minutes."

"What do we need?" Draco asked.

"Our brooms," Harry said. "And having another invisibility cloak can't hurt either." With that, they set off in different directions to collect what was needed.

Ten minutes later, Harry entered the library and saw that Krum and Malfoy were already there waiting for him, Malfoy's Nimbus 2001 leaning next to him, Krum's Firebolt in his hand.

"Okay," said Harry, putting down his Firebolt and invisibility cloak on the table. "We should head down to Snape's office. Draco and I will hide under my cloak, Viktor, you can hide under yours."

"Got it," Draco said.

"Hold on," Krum interjected pulling out his wand. "Take out your vands." Although there was some confusion within the two boys, they each complied and pulled out their wands, which Krum promptly tapped with his own, making them glowing slightly pink for a second. "Ve can now talk to each other through our vands," he said. "Very useful when we need to talk to each other over long distances or need to be extra qviet." Harry and Draco noddded at this.

"All right, well, let's go!" Harry said, and throwing the cloak over him and Draco, they each grabbed their brooms and the map of Norway and exited the library, followed by Krum underneath his own cloak.

A few minutes later they arrived outside Snape's office, and Harry could hear that the professor was still inside.

"He's still in there," he whispered into his wand.

"Yes, ve vill have to wait a little bit," came Krum's voice from the tips of Harry's and Draco's wands.

So they waited. Every second that passed seemed like an eternity to Harry, for fear of what Hermione and Ginny might be going through. Finally, fifteen minutes later, Snape emerged from the office, closed and locked the door, and walked off in the direction to Dumbledore's office.

"Now or never," Harry said into his wand once Snape had turned the corner.

Immediately the two cloaks were thrown off of the three bodies, and Krum rushed over to the door with his wand drawn. Placing it on the knob, he muttered, "Extrico," and the knob glowed red before turning. Replacing his wand back in his robes, Krum pushed the door and it opened.

A single platinum cauldron now stood on Snape's desk, and it was filled with the most foul-smelling liquid Harry had ever come across.

"How much do we need to bring?" Draco asked, holding his nose.

"It depends on how much they vere forced to drink," Krum said. "Ve shouldn't give them too much more antidote than necessary. After all, too much of anything is bad for you."

"They were given half a vial of the potion each," Harry said, remembering his first dream.

"Then ve vill take two vials of the antidote," Krum said pulling two glass ones off of a shelf. Using his wand, he directed the potion into the vials and then stoppered them.

"Is there any way to make them unbreakable?" Harry asked. "We don't want to get there and find out that one of them cracked during the flight."

"Good idea," Krum said tapping each of them with his wand. A glossy liquid poured from the tip and covered the vials, which upon contact with the glass hardened, giving off a resemblance of a diamond shell. "Who vill carry them?"

"I'm taking Hermione's," Harry said without hesitation.

"And I'm taking Ginny's," Draco said. Krum nodded and gave a vial to each of the wizards.

"Ve must make haste," he said. "Ve haff a long way to travel." With a nod, the three of them donned the invisibility cloaks and ran from the office towards the entrance hall, and upon reaching it thrust open the doors.

"We won't be able to fly with the cloaks on," Draco said.

"We vill not haff to worry," Krum said. "Once ve are over the forest, ve vill be able to fly below the canopy and continue undetected."

"All right," Harry said mounting his broom, and the others did the same. "We'll stop occasionally to check the map and make sure we're going the right way. For right now, point me!" His wand spun to due north in his palm, which was towards the Forbidden Forest. "We're roughly going east by northeast, so we need to head that way," he said, pointing off over the mountains. Draco and Krum nodded. "Let's go." With that, the three wizards kicked off of the ground and sped into the night.

Up in his office, Dumbledore watched with Snape as the three brooms faded out of sight.

"Are you sure this is wise?" the potions master asked. "It would be a lot easier if they had more help."

"I don't believe that to be true, Severus," Dumbledore said. "The keep is likely to be heavily guarded. A large force would have to fight its way through, but the three of them may be able to slip in undetected."

"You are sure of where they are going?"

"Yes," the headmaster answered. "They weren't doing a very discreet job during their search, to say the least."

"The crypt then?" Snape asked, turning to Dumbledore.

"Yes," the headmaster replied with a sigh. "There is not much we can do now but hope that it is not too late."

=====

The flight to Norway had taken the better part of the day. Twice they had to stop and check the map to make sure they were going the right way. Finally, just as the sun was setting, they could see the forest surrounding the Keep in the distance.

"There it is," Harry said into his wand. "We're going to have to fly through the trees."

"Got it," came Draco's voice.

"Let us stop at the beginning of the forest so we can discuss our plan," came Krum's.

"Okay."

The three of them descended below the treeline and a minute later slowed down as they entered the forest and hopped off their brooms.

"Well, we made it," Draco said.

"Not yet," corrected Harry. "That was the easy part. We still have to get in and find Ginny and Hermione without making a scene."

"There vill probably be guards also," Krum said. "Along vith sentries stationed throughout the forest."

"That can be taken care of," Harry said. He drew his wand and pointed it at his hand after tracing a circle on it, just like Dumbledore had done when they went to rescue Krum. "Radarus." The circle grew slightly gray, and two blue dots appeared on it, designating Krum and Malfoy. "No one's near us right now." Krum and Draco nodded. "Okay, I'll fly ahead of the two of us. If anyone comes within range, we'll stop and put on the cloaks to sneak by them. We don't want to give anyone any reason to show that something unusual is happening." With another nod, they remounted their brooms and flew off at a slow pace into the forest.

Harry guessed they were about seven miles in before the first red dot appeared on his hand. Whispering through his wand, they descended to the ground and put on the cloaks.

"Won't they hear us?" Draco asked.

"Use 'silencio' on your shoes," Krum's voice said from next to them. They did so and found, much to Harry's surprise, that it worked. Silently they made their way past the red dot until it disappeared from Harry's hand, and they resumed flight.

Three more times this happened, until finally a very large cluster of red dots appeared on Harry's hand.

"We're nearly there," he whispered into his wand. Again they descended to the ground and donned the cloaks. They walked in silence for about ten minutes, and then the trees around them ended and they were standing in front of a castle almost the size of Hogwarts.

"Bloody hell," whispered Draco.

"Come on," Harry said, watching his hand. They moved around to the main entrance and saw that there were two death eaters stationed outside.

"How are we going to get by them?" Draco asked.

"Ve vill haff to vait," Krum's voice said through their wands. "The iron gate is down, so ve cannot sneak by nor stun them."

"We don't have time," Harry whispered. "What if -" but at that moment, the iron portcullis started to rise.

"See?" Krum said. "Let's go." The three of them slowly walked forward, careful not to shift anything on the ground. They were twenty feet from the gate when Harry saw him.

Voldemort.

And Wormtail.

They were walking out of the castle towards the forest, and had just passed Harry, Draco, and Krum when Voldemort stopped.

"He's here," he hissed.

"The boy?" Peter asked, and the Dark Lord nodded.

"Seal the gate. Now," he hissed at the guards. Immediately they relayed the message to the death eaters controlling the gate, and it began to descend.

"We have to move! NOW!" Harry hissed into his wand. Stumbling forward but managing to keep the cloak on, he and Draco just barely got under the iron spikes as they sunk into the ground behind them. "Did you make it, Viktor?"

"Yes," came the reply from his wand. Outside the gate Voldemort was looking around, trying to discern where Harry had gotten to.

"Is he still here, my lord?" Wormtail asked. Harry could feel Voldemort trying to penetrate his mind, and doing the only thing he could remember from his Occlumency lessons, tried to put up a brick wall around his mind.

"I'm not sure," Voldemort said after a minute. "It is of no concern, he will not get past the guards here. Come, Wormtail, we have business to attend to." With that Peter nodded and the two of them walked off into the forest, followed by two soft cracks a moment later to signify their disapparation.

"That was too close," Harry muttered into his wand. "Let's get moving." The three of them moved farther into the castle, halting every once in a while to let a death eater that was moving about pass them. When it became apparently that Hermione and Ginny were not on the ground floor (as shown by a lack of blue dots on Harry's palm), Harry suggested that they try to find some stairs.

"I saw some stairs heading into a dungeon a little vhile back," came Krum's voice through Harry's wand.

"Sounds like a good place to start," Harry replied. "We'll follow you."

"Okay," came the reply. Krum walked back towards what he had seen while Harry and Draco followed him.

"Why did we bring our brooms?" Draco asked, having trouble keeping all of his Nimbus 2001 underneath the cloak.

"We may have to make a quick escape," Harry replied. Draco didn't say anything, but he could feel him nod from behind him. A minute later they arrived at an open door, where a death eater was slumped on the floor in sleep.

"Do you get the feeling that this is a little bit too easy?" Draco asked, as they started to descend the stairs.

"A bit, but we can't worry about that now," Harry replied as they made their way out onto the landing of a very old stone cellar lit only by oil lamps. The room had several open passageways leading out of it, each with a set of stairs that descended lower into the ground.

"Well, we can't split up," Harry said. "It's too dangerous."

"So ve check each one," Krum said. Harry and Draco agreed and were just about to go down the stairs in the left-most passage when a terrible pain wracked Harry's body. He managed to cast a silencing charm on himself before falling down on the ground in maddening silent screams.

"What is it?" Draco asked quickly, bending low so that the cloak would cover Harry.

"Vat has happened?" asked Krum through his wand.

"Potter's having a fit of some sort -" but he stopped his sentence because Harry's writhing had just stopped. "What happened?" he asked, pulling Harry back to his feet.

"...it was the draught," he said, breathing heavily. "I felt like all the emotions in my body were being replaced with suffering, and I think my insides started to curdle."

"How pleasant," replied Malfoy.

"Hermione's in pain," Harry whispered. "Wait for a second, I have to try to contact her."

"What?" Draco asked. Harry held up a hand to silence him, and much to Harry's surprise, he did.

'Hermione? Hermione are you there?!' he thought as loudly as he could.

'H-Harry?' came a voice in obvious pain.

'Hermione, listen to me,' Harry said as calmly as he could. 'Do you remember which passageway they used to bring you to your cell?'

'Third from the right, second from the left, then the one all the way on the right,' came the reply, as though Hermione had thought this through all the way beforehand.

'Got it.'

"This way," he said grabbing Krum's arm through the cloak and pulling him and Draco towards the passageway which was the third from the right.

"Harry, vat are you doing?" Krum asked as they descended the stairs.

"I just talked to Hermione, she's this way," Harry replied, scanning his hand carefully for any sign of red dots.

"Your connection?" Krum asked.

"Yes." They reached another landing at the bottom of the stairs, and this too branched out in several different directions. Taking the passage on the second from the left, they made their way down the stairs and at the next landing took the passage all the way on the right.

When they reached the bottom of these stairs, they were confronted with a long corridor lined with many old oak doors. Checking his hand, Harry now saw what he was searching for: two blue dots ahead and to the left. The only problem was that there were six red dots that appeared to be pacing outside the door.

"We don't have a choice," Harry whispered into his wand. "We're going to have to kill the guards."

"How many are there?" came Krum's voice.

"Six," he replied. "But if we fire from underneath the cloaks from the sides, we should be able to take them down without causing a commotion."

"Let us go then."

The three of them moved forward, and Krum moved around to the other side of the guards, while Harry and Malfoy stayed on the side closer to the stairs. Once Krum announced that he was in position, Harry spoke.

"This is for those we love, gentlemen," he said into his wand. "Remember that. Avada Kedavra!"

The incantation was echoed by the other two on Harry's side, but it wasn't needed. The amount of power and hatred that Harry had poured into his spell killed the death eater he aimed it at, and the tremor created when the spell impacted on the man's chest sent the other five flying. Two of them were killed by Krum's and Malfoy's spells, and the other three were killed when their heads cracked open upon the stone walls. Two wands fell to the ground from the robes of one of the death eaters, and refusing to wait any longer, Harry tore the cloak off himself and Malfoy while rushing to the door, dropping his Firebolt and picking up the wands on the ground in the process.

"Alohomora!" he yelled at the handle, and it clicked open. As he threw open the door, two things occurred at the same time. One, screams of pain from Hermione and Ginny filled the air, and two, a loud alarm went off on the main floor of the castle, which was not heard over the screams of the women.

"HERMIONE!" Harry bellowed as he rushed forward towards her. She and Ginny were each curled up into a tight ball in the corner of the room (which was the same as in Harry's dreams). Upon hearing Harry call her name, Hermione's screams only became louder. With the vial in his hand, he quickly administered a 'finite incantatem', removed the stopper and cradled Hermione's head in his lap. "Drink this," he said, and she turned her head to him, not able to stop screaming. Quickly he poured the contents of the vial down her throat, and she coughed and sputtered for a moment before the potion reached her stomach, and her screaming stopped.

A few feet away, the same thing happened with Ginny, and both girls promptly broke down in tears in the arms of their loved ones.

"You came for me," Hermione whispered into Harry's robes.

"I would never abandon you," he said.

"Harry!" shouted Krum from the door. "There's an alarm going off in the distance!" Immediately the four people in the room quieted and listened. Sure enough coming somewhere from above the ceiling, a soft wail could be heard that was unmistakably an alarm.

"We need to get out of here," he said summoning his Firebolt to him and handing the girls their wands back. "Now."

They rushed from the room and sprinted back up the corridor towards the stairs before taking them two at a time. They were greeted with an unpleasant scene upon arriving at the landing, however.

"I'm afraid you'll have to go through me first," Lucius Malfoy said, flanked by a dozen death eaters.

There were no words spoken after that. Harry simply leveled his wand with the nearest death eater's head and fired a Reductor Curse, effectively blowing the man's head to pieces. This caused enough confusion for Hermione, Draco, and Krum to do the same, while Ginny stuck to a cleaner Avada Kedavra. Twenty seconds later it was over, and just as before, Lucius was the only death eater left standing.

"I never though my son would betray me," he said looking at Draco with a frown.

"You betrayed me," Draco said, "The moment you attacked the Hogwarts Express while I was on it."

"You know I didn't mean to hit your car," Lucius said.

"Bollocks," Draco replied. "Ginny was in that compartment and you knew it. You didn't care if you had to kill your own son, you just wanted to get rid of the person who managed to survive Tom Riddle's Diary." Lucius growled at this and made to tackle Draco, but the young man, having played quidditch just like Harry, was accustomed to things making quick moves at his body, and jumped out of the way in time. Lucius crashed to the ground and Draco pounced on him.

"You would've killed me and not cared," he said in a deadly whisper. "And so I'm going to do the same for you." Lucius opened his mouth to speak, but the words never came out as Draco had quickly raised his wand and said the two words that ended his father's life in a green flash.

The other four people in the room stood there speechless until a noise from above them brought them back to their senses.

"We have to keep moving," Harry said. "Once we're on the main floor we'll be able to get on the brooms." No more words were spoken between the five of them until they reached the main floor, surprisingly, without any encounters.

"On the brooms, everyone," Harry said as Hermione climbed on in front of him, Ginny climbed on in front of Draco, and Krum got on his broom alone.

"Here," Krum said tossing Harry's invisibility cloak to him, and his own invisibility cloak to Draco. "Take these, I shouldn't hold on to both." Draco and Harry nodded, and with a quick kick off of the ground, they sped down the corridor towards the entrance.

The problem was, as they discovered when they arrived at the gate, was that the iron portcullis was down, and they had no means of escape.

"Damn," Draco said. "What now?" Harry didn't have time to answer as a jet of green light shot through the air, missing above his head by inches.

"Follow me!" Harry shouted as he bolted forwards back in towards the castle.

"Where are you going?" Draco's voice sounded through his wand.

"Looking for a courtyard," Harry said back into his wand as he took a quick corner, holding onto Hermione so she didn't fall off.

A large bang was heard behind them and Harry slowed his broom enough to turn around and see what had happened. A spell had hit Krum and he had crashed to the ground, splintering his Firebolt. Draco and Harry quickly stopped, but Viktor waved them off.

"Go. GO!" he shouted. "I haff no means of escape now."

"We'll take you with us!" Harry shouted. "I'm not leaving you here!"

"You haff no choice!" Krum yelled, as a horde of death eaters turned the corner. "Fly!"

With a frustrated growl, Harry kicked off the ground, and flew back in the direction he had originally been going, Malfoy right behind him.

"Today," Krum said as Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco disappeared from sight and the death eaters approached. "I repay my debt."

Harry and Hermione streaked towards the clearing at the end of the hall, Draco and Ginny close behind them. The light of the early morning sky could be seen in that area, and it was undoubtedly a way out. Reaching it, they found it was a courtyard, and immediately flew vertically upwards and over the keep. Flying a few hundred yards away from the castle, Harry stopped and Draco and Ginny pulled up alongside him.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"I have to go back for him," Harry said.

"Are you mad, Potter!?" shouted Draco. "You'll be killed!" Harry looked down at the castle where red and green flashes were going off through the windows. Suddenly, the flashes stopped, causing Harry's thought process to pause for a moment.

Back down in the castle, Krum had finally been overtaken and was surrounded by the black-robed death eaters, while he knelt in the middle of the hall.

"You are beaten," one said. "Surrender and join us, and we may spare your life." Krum looked up at the one who had spoke, spat at his feet, and pointed his wand at himself.

"I vould never join the likes of you," he said, his wand still pointed directly at his own heart. "AMORTUS!"

Outside the castle, all that was seen was a brilliant white light emanating from the windows, followed shortly thereafter by an enormous explosion, throwing large chunks of stone into the air as a gaping hole was blown into the Keep's side. Startled by this, Harry could only gape and watch as the large blocks of stone landed on the ground and hit other parts of the castle.

"Krum," he said into his wand. "Viktor are you there?" No response. "Viktor, are you there?!" he shouted. He turned to his classmates and saw that the same result was etched onto their faces; sadness. "GODDAMNIT, KRUM RESPOND!" There was nothing but silence as Harry bowed his head in defeat, finally realising that he could now no longer go back for him.

Without a word, he turned his broom back towards England, and sped off into the pale sky with Hermione, Draco and Ginny following right behind him.

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There it is. 20 pages for you, and I hope you enjoyed it. Again, I apologise for this being a day late, but I was too tired on Monday to finish it. The next chapter will be the last one, I'll put in a more elaborate speech then. Until then, I ask you simply to please not question any decision I have made in this chapter, all will become clear (or most of it anyway) in time. See you next week.